I have really been wondering how much difference treating my room would make. I have very reflective paneling on all but the front walls. I have also been investigating room treatment on the web.

There are very costly products available that are ready to be hung, but I wanted to get an idea of the kind of improvement it would actually make in my room with my system. I started looking at the DIY room treatment recipes and could not find the fiberglass duct board many had talked about using.

Then, it dawned on me that this duct board is very similar to fiberglass ceiling tiles, an item I have many of as I ripped out a ceiling downstairs a couple years back and threw the tiles in the attic. I took the tile (fiberglass side facing out and thumbtacked them to the walls in the groves of the paneling so as not to ruin the walls yet.

I put tiles diagonally in all four corners and at the first and second order reflections from the front L/R speakers. I also placed a half tile 2' x 2' between the surround back channels. The cement floor is carpeted so I did nothing with the floor. I also turned the tiles in the ceiling over so the fiberglass side was facing down at the reflection points from the front speakers.

All this was just to get an idea of the difference treating the room would make. I was quite surprised. The front speakers were much clearer and imaging is incredible. I also noticed much more continuity when effects circulate all the way around the room. Bass also became much more defined.

Now, knowing I do want to treat the room, I thought "Hey, I'll take some peg board put the ceiling tile (fiberglass side facing out)on top of it, put a couple layers of polyester batting on top of that and stretch burlap across it all and staple it to the back. Well, it takes about 20 minutes to make one tile and I will spend about $90 to make 12 full size tiles.

I have made four of the tiles and will try to finsh up the rest over the holiday weekend and hang them all. I figure if it doesn't work out, I'm only out $100; belive me, this is cheap compared to some audio products I have bought and got minimal increases in performance out of them. They don't look as professional as the ones you can buy and I'm sure they don't provide as good of performance, but the result of even just the bare ceiling tiles was quite dramtic on my room.

Slap echo before setting the tiles in the room was very bad. The room was very reverberant. With the bare tiles the slap echo was not gone, but greatly reduced. I am hoping the polyester batting will further reduce or even eliminate it. If all fails I'm just out a few bucks and 8 or 10 hours. Hey, what else am I going to do this weekend? Yeah, I could get around to building a center channel speaker stand. Yeah, I could st up the SMS-1, but response is going to change greatly after treating it.

I'll report back once my project is complete. I welcome any suggestions or ideas.

You might want to look into this website:

www.gikacoustics.com

I'm forgetting which board, I think it was at the Tape Op board, but the owner of this company and Ethan Winer, the owner of Realtraps, have both been supporting each other's product as they each target a different frequency range. The GIK panels also seem to be getting some good user reviews.

I don't have the room yet to build in, but when I do, I think I've narrowed down my acoustic panel choices to these two companies. My current idea is two of the GIK panels at the first reflection points on the side walls, a couple of Realtraps for the corners, and probably some bookshelves across the back wall for some diffusion. Of course, this is theoretical, but it comes from trying to decipher the acoustical articles that I've read. I also recommend reading the articles at realtraps.com for other acoustical tips.

Good luck and let us know how it works out.

I have been holding off on building my own panels until I can find the rigid fiberglass insulation. There was a recent post on a pro-audio website that reported some Lowes carrying OC-703. I have not checked my local store yet.

Worst case, a few places online carry rigid fiberglass. Here's one:
http://www.atsacoustics.com/cat--Raw-Sound-Absorption-Materials--102.html

I have speaker cloth samples coming to me in the mail from http://www.speakerworks.net/grill_cloth.html. Hopefully this stuff is visually opaque to hide the 'glass, the price seems right.

I ended up getting really busy last weekend and was not able to finish the traps, which stinks because my HT room is trashed right now. I have noticed a great deal of improvement already, but am also realizing that I need more (thicker traps).

I have been talking with Glenn from Gik Acoustics and I am going to go ahead and go that route as they will perform much better than the ones I can construct and will look better too. I will be able to treat the room (19' x 11.5' x 7') for a little over $700.

Yeah, I realize it sounds like a lot of dough (and it is to me), but it is less than or equal to what I spend on many single pieces of equipment. I also have proof ahead of time after my experimenting that it will greatly improve the sound in my room (more than any other upgrade I have done by a considerable margin).

Thanks for your suggestions. Now, I just have to work on the wife for a few days. It sounds as if it may take a week or two to get the panels as they are made to order for the most part. I will post my thoughts and results when I have hung the panels.

That sounds awesome Doug. Please do post your results with GIK panels.

That's a great way to justify the cost by equating it to another piece of equipment. The only exception being that this new "equipment" will only become outdated if you decide to move!

i can honestly say that i have not dabbled in room treatments much. not because i think it is unimportant, but because my ht stuff has always been in a multipurpose room, rather than dedicated ht. there are a ton of factors influencing acoustics - primarily room size and shape. the thing that has caught my eye is the sheetrock that is designed for ht. i have not priced it (and there are several options), but it would look the most natural and offers good performance. what i would like is enhanced sound in the ht room as well as preventing sound to escape the room (and disturb neighbors, other people in the house, etc.).

my ht area now is a disaster acoustically and i have noticed a difference in perceived quality compared to other places i have lived, but i havent had the luxury to settle into one place long enough to dedicate what it takes to make it better. i will be moving again before too long, but then likely again, so its hit or miss. at least i am making progressively more money, so i can afford the treatments at all though!

curegeorg,

Room treatment does not have to be attached to one place. I am going to attach panels to the four corners of the room, but for the first reflections from the front speakers, I will be attaching the panels to stands so they can be moved around if equipment changes (namely speakers) and so I can access what is behind them easily (DVDs on one side of the room). Stands could be used for the panels in the corners of the room as well, but by hanging them in the corners I will save a couple hundred bucks on the stands and they will not interfere with the room too much.

My room has to be much worse than many other peoples as the shiny wood paneling on the walls is super reflective. If I had the room to build again, things would be done much differently including a fake wall (fabric) at the front of the room with all my speakers placed behind it. Acoustic panels would also be built into the decor.

Maybe someday. I have to wait five or ten years so the wife can't say "You just built that room a few years back. It works fine, you don't need to rebuild it." Truthfully, I think it will be pretty solid, once I get the panels and install them. Besides, if I wait to rebuild for ten years I will just find another dozen or so things I want to change for the better anyhow.

My room is multi-purpose too. L-shaped with each "leg" of the L being 24' long and 12' wide. Furniture placement is a pain. The 12' dimension has proven to be a couple feet too narrow. The walls are T&G pine paneling and the floor is shiny pine. Oh, I also have 50' of baseboard radiators. A frequency sweep sounds like a symphony of doorbell buzzers!

yeah, i know treatment doesnt have to be permanent. for me, right now, there is little i can do. one side has a sliding glass door, and the other is 95% open (into a dining room). oh and we have 1 story crawl space below the room (on a hill). i will be moving soon enough.

i do not care for the look of most acoustical treatments, that is why i mentioned the sheetrock. it would be pretty much invisible. same goes for the false wall approach.

Well, I got my acoustic panels installed this weekend and.....wow! I had no idea I would gain this much. The channels are very separated from one another and the bass is amazing. It also took the small amount of harshness my room was producing out of the mix. I will go into more detail and get some pics up later in the week. It looks better than I thought it would but my wife still thinks it looks insane (what does she know .